Brad to the BoneYahoo Movies Another Oscar roundtable I participated in. This time I'm talking Best Actor with Thelma Adams, Sasha Stone and others. I kick it off with more Brad love.Serious Film on Brad Pitt's winning streak. It's not just 2011.Press Play stumps for Brad Pitt (Moneyball) for Best Actor. It's weird all the excitement seemed to be in Best Actress until just recently and then Best Actor was all anyone could talk about. Maybe because it still feels like a race?

LinksFlavorwire Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender for a new Cormac McCarthy penned movie?Guardian Naomi Watts signs to play Princess Diana in a bio directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) called Caught in Flight on the last two years of her life. I guess we need to start thinking about all the 2012 2013 Best Actress contenders. NY Post Daniel Radcliffe not happy that Harry Potter 7.2 was not Best Picture nominated. And here I thought people had stopped thinking about that.In Contention Happy 80th birthday for John WilliamsFunny Or Die Jean Dujardin auditions for every villain roleCarpetbagger has been doing a series where they invite celebrities to fill out fake Oscar ballots (i.e. non AMPAS members. Today Tabatha Coffey. I always wanted to do this random celeb Oscar chat thing but alas, The Film Experience doesn't have the clout of The New York Times. Someday ;) Boy Culture excavates an old Madonna interview from when she was only 34 wherein she talks about aging and knows that people will want to put her out to pasture soon. We love that she's living her ideals 19 years later and not allowing that. Given that life expectancy keeps moving up in years, you'd think civilians (who age faster than celebrities!) would stop groaning about celebrities that are "too old" to be entertaining us. I'm pretty sure in 20 years times I'll still rather see Meryl at 83 than, you know, some random 20 year old Hollywood is trying to shove down my throat. May all the talented ones keep working until they croak! This goes for the fresh ones too who are just starting out. Jessica Chastain, pace yourself. We hope to enjoy you when you're 71... if we're still alive!

From left to right: Director Asghar Farhadi (last year's Berlinale winner for A Separation), Actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, Director Mike Leigh, Actress Barbara Sukowa, Director Francois Ozon, Director Anton Corbijn, Writer Boualem Sansai, and Actor Jake Gyllenhaal ("Jakey!!!") who the crowd and photographers went wild for the second he stepped out of the car and onto the red.

Sundance is the first major festival of each new film year but Berlinale is always hot on its heels. Will anything as great as A Separation debut there this year? We'll soon hear.

Reader Comments (10)

Didn't Jessica Chastain just sign on for a Princess Diana biopic? Is it mandatory now that competing studios must produce opposing films featuring basically the exact same historical figure/franchise/idea? Two Snow White films this year. Two Abraham Lincoln-based films this year. Now I guess two Princess Diana biopics this year. And isn't Naomi Watts signed on to film another Marilyn Monroe-based film directed by Andrew Dominik (or was that scrapped)? Sigh. There goes creativity.

Am I the only one who thinks Naomi Watts career hasn't been as good or memorable as expected after her Oscar nomination and breakthrough a few years ago. For such a major actress I keep forgetting that she is even on the radar most of the time, very strange.

Judging solely off of the sight-lines captured for the single moment captured in that picture you posted of the folks at Berlinale, I am choosing to believe that Francois Ozon and Jake Gyllenhaal fell immediately into love and are going to go and make lots of movies and babies together now, and I am really really okay with that, as long as they let us watch. The movies and the babymaking, obviously.